Swingers
Swingers is a South African-Canadian-American comedy horror film directed by Paul Ward, released in 1989, starring Elliot Gould and Lois Chiles. It was the first of four films in Ward's "bottle series", a collection of low budget horror films making use of B to C list movie actors and television actors and minimal locations while concentrating the funds toward distribution deals and more ambitious design choices. The film is the lowest rated in Ward's filmography, but he maintains it helped him to come up with settings for future films that'd suit his financial constraints. Summary Demons plague a small suburban community. Disguised as meek individuals, the monsters are brought out after they are verbally abused. The only ones who could stop the onslaught are a bourgeois couple after their own son is revealed to be a demon. Plot A young worker at an industrial plant is chastised by his supervisor over taking too long to do his job, but it was due to him wanting to avoid spilling a chemical that would take too long to clean if left unchecked. The supervisor becomes more and more harsh as the worker tries to drown out his toxic attitude, but is pushed to his limit when he's forcibly fired. The boy curses the supervisor out and the latter goes to hit him, only to get doused in the chemical, pounced and torn apart by the boy. Some of the chemical got onto some bare wire, causing a fire and encasing the both of them. A month later, a family, the Groves, are traveling to the suburbs after the father Leonard (Elliot Gould) had a breakdown during a bad day at his previous job in the city. His wife Tracey (Lois Chiles) tells her son Billy about the fire that happened at the plant, though even she's unaware of what really led to it. Having been a victim of condescension at the hands of his parents, Billy begins acting out, and it comes to a head at dinner when Billy harshly calls out his father for making him eat steak, which he doesn't like. Billy is chastised and succumbs to the same fate as the boy. As he's about to kill Leonard, Tracey shoots Billy and kills him. Throughout the film, more encounters are shown, each with varying outcomes and Leonard and Tracey trying to prevent any further casualties.. At the end, we learn that the demons were merely amalgamations of the victims' guilt and fear of a counter-attack from those they go after. The film concludes with a message regarding how to sway people to do the right thing. Cast * Elliot Gould: Leonard * Lois Chiles: Tracey * Marg Helgenberger: Martha * Tom Noonan: Harold * I.M. Hobson: Jerv * Max Wright: Preston * William Jones: Supervisor * Howard Dayton: Guy on radio Production The film features actors from numerous George A. Romero vehicles, notably Creepshow and Tales from the Darkside. The film was primarily shot in Vancouver, with the nature scenes being shot in Cape Town. Reception The film recieved mixed to negative reviews. It holds a 43% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The quality of the film had been likened to that of a made-for-TV. Nonetheless, the film had earned a following over the years due to its obscurity.